During the first three months of 2010, nearly three million Americans had less access to basic necessities than at the same period in 2008. The Basic Access sub-index (BAI) showed a 1.4 point year-over-year decline, closing March at 82.3. The Work Environment Sub-Index (WEI) is down 1.6 points year-over-year and down 2.9 points over March 2008.
Leading overall well-being improvement is the Life Evaluation Sub-Index (LEI), which cumulatively measures current life perception and optimism for the future. Although March LEI had a nonstatistically significant fall of 0.6 points, the LEI remains 12.2 percentage points higher year-over-year, signaling a self-reported improvement of life circumstances for more than 24 million Americans since March 2008.